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SATURDAY, FtBrtUARY 12,1910.
The Surnier Watchman was found?
ed la 1850 and the Trut Southron in
111! The Watchman and Southron
oow has tha combined circulation and
influence of both of the old pipers,
end la manifestly tha bast advertising
medium In Sumter.
Mil. lit AS KKS POSITION.
Mr. T. B. Fraaer's communication,
which la printed today, throws addi?
tional Ufht on the Maater'a salary
question. It la a plain, straight-for?
ward statement auch aa waa to be ex?
pected of Mr. Fr?ser. Ha aasumea
entire responsibility for the bill now
before the legislature and glvea hla
reasons for introducing and advocat?
ing tha bill. While we do not agree
with the conclusions that Mr. Fra
eer arrives at, yet wa appreciate the
force of hla argument. We can and
do heartily endorse the position he
aaaumed In declining to fall In with
the recommendation of a majority of
tha Bar Association that the f??ea of
tha Maater'a office be abolished and
the office be made a salaried one, the
salary to be paid by the county. Of
the two plane, the one advocated by
Mr. Fr?ser Is greatly to be preferred,
for his plan relieves the tax-payers
of the county of a part of the addl
tlnal burden sought to be imposed
upon them. In our opinion It would
be a mistake to adopt either plan.
We do not believe that the office of
Master in Equity is a necessity, at
most it ia a convenience, and when
\ there la a great deal of bualnesa of
thla special character to be disposed
of It ia facilitated by having a Mas?
ter to handle It. When there ia a
large volume of business rendering
tha office a necessity for Its reason?
ably prompt transaction, the office is
self-sustaining and the fees In the
aggregate pay the Incumbent an ade?
quate aalary. When the feea are not
sufficient compensation for a compe?
tent man. the office is no longer a ne?
cessity, for there Is so little business
for htm to transact that his time la
not occupied.
THE MASTER'S SALARY RILL.
Representative Fraser Eplalns His
Position ami Gives Reaeona l'or
Paying a Fixed Salary.
Mr. Editor:
I wan! :o rsume entire responsi?
bility for the Master's aalary bill
now before tha rouse. The bill Is as
near aa I could reproduce It, a bill I
drew aaveral years ago. The Idea
Is entirely my own. I mentioned the
matter to tha bar association several
years ago. It did not meet with en?
tire approval, aome thought the
faea ought to be abolished. While
I am a member of the association I
can not allow It to control my act
Ions as a legislate , aa my position
on the county court matter shows.
The propoeltlon to devolve the duties
of the office on another office Is. in
my Judgment, forbidden by the con
etltutlon and I am sworn to obey that
Instrument. That idea Is therefore
excluded.
In my Judgment It |a very Import?
ant to have a maater. Some counties
do not have a master and appoint
for each case a special referee. These
spclal ref?reis give no bond and keep
no records. The work of a master
en- lea the court to try In half a
day a cas? that would take two days,
'sometimes, and presents the case in
a much m >re satisfactory way. In
cases where long accounts arc to be
examined and sifted, the court would
take a week or more, and can not
even then handle the case properly,
unless It hud been sifted and the
Issues narrowed by the work of the
master. From the time the master
starts his work to the time he gets
his pay Is sometimes six months,
sometimes a year and sometimes
Nee years.
1 acted as ipecfal referee in a case
in whieh the master was disquali?
fied. The case has been going on
for I 4 lean lltail four years ana it
mm i be i real or more yet bet?re
i can ?efl anything out of it. The
maater can't practice law. but in
the meantime must live. The re?
sponsibility and requireuenta at this
otfh :e are ?;rcat. In foreclosur *!
and such like cases and cases where
infants and parties with no one to
leak eftef their Interest, Ihe entire
(I.if ml. nee Is upon the ability and
Integrity Of ||M master It Is said
hs . in.- mat the mast i is i judicial
office and no f?-es or costs ought to be
demanded
There Is much force In this but
tnxo* hi net <arly Iiubt and as f< *
are provided by law I think thev
ought remain. The bill provides
that they shall still be colhcted and
paid to the county treasurer to rcttOVi
the taxpayers of the burden of the
?nlary as much as possible.
If we would safe guard this very
Important othVe and insure a com?
petent man. we must provide for
t*?a master, a living. Now if the
work eeeeita very heavy and the
master In f - b indie large
Farmers' Union News
?AND
Practical Thoughts for Practical Farmers
(Conducted by E. \Y. Dabbs, President Furniers' ?Union of Suniter
County.) '?
The Watchman and Southron having decided to double its service by
semi-weekly publication, would Improve that service by special features.
The first to be inaugurated is this Department for the Farmers' Union and
Practical Fanners which I have been requested to conduct. It will be my
aim to give the Union news and official calls of the Union. To that end
officers, and members of the Union are requested to use these columns.
Also to publish such clippings from the agricultural papers and Govern?
ment Bulletins as I think will be of practical benefit to our readers. Ori?
ginal articles by any of o?r readers telling of their successes or f ures
will be appreciated and | ubllshed.
Trusting this Department will be of mutual benefit to all concerned,
? THE EDITOR.
All communications for tl Is Department should be sent to E. W. Dabbs.
Mayesville, 8. C.
WAY TO BUILD UP THE SOUTH.
An Address by Clarence E. Poe, Ed?
itor of the Progressive Farmer.
Columbia. Feb. 9.?For some time
the University haa been expecting a
visit from Clarence H. Poe, the versa?
tile editor of the Progressive Farm?
er of Raleigh, N. C. He came here
yesterday on his way to Atlanta to
attend the cotton products conven
tlon. His address In the University
chapel inspired the young men.
President Mitchell says of him:
"Clarence Poe is one of the sanest
thinkers In the South and In this ad?
dress he has given the gist of his
thought as to the best way In which
to build up our country. His mind is
eminently practical, and he has built
concretely with the constructive
forces at work In the south today.
Mr. Poe Is liberal, sympathetic and
structural In all his plans to promote
the welfare of the people In this re?
gion. He is a self-made man.
"He has epitomized in his own per?
sonal experience the difficulties 'In?
der which the south in the last half
century has labored. By sheer force
of character, clearness of Intellect,
and dint of perseverance, he has
forced on his way to the front as a
leader of public thought. Through
his admirable paper he exercise
great Influence, especially as regards
better farming, growth of community
lift in the rural districts, good r>ac?s.
better schools and independence in
thought."
His address st the university was
so timely, pointed and direct in its
Import that it Impressed the entire
student body and faculty. Mr. Poe
stands for a practical programme of
progress in the south which neces?
sarily appeals to the aspiring youth.
His address was another In the series
at the university of practical talks
on present topics. Mr. Poe met the
large auddience that listened to his
able speech, of which the following
Is a synopsis:
We have neglected our average
man: His has been our great trouble.
Talk about a State's resources, there
Is only one resource, the man, the
child, the citizen present or future,
and his Intelligence, character and
strength?his average Intelligence,
character and strength. This is the
measure of all other values, and In
speaking to you I am going to lay
down this as my first and primary
propooltlon:
To develop our state we must de?
velop the Intelligence and efficiency
of our average pooulatlon. and the
material resources of the State?min?
erals, soils, water powers, climate,
forest or what not are valuable or
worthless in production to the effi?
ciency?the intelligence, energy and
character of your avernge citizen.
Secondly, I declare to you with no
less emphasis that the prosperity of
every Individual man measured by
the prosperity, the efficiency?that is
to say. the efficiency and character of
the average man in the community.
No matter what trade, business or
profession you may follow, you pros?
per just In proportion to the Intelli?
gence and wealth of the average man
With Whom you have to deal. In
i ther words not only doei the pros
parity of the st.ite as an organisation
and of soci'tv as a whole depend on
I he prosperity of the average man.
i it the prosperity of every trade, art
ii! craft in a community and the
sums of money, he ought to have
some compensation for the extra
Work., It may be the costs and fees
will not pay tin- salary and th^
county takes thai risk s<?, the bill
provides, that after payment, the
?ulary, If any thing is over, it shall
be divided between the master and
the county. This plan seemed to mr
to be |hl '?est that could l?e done and
the bill s,? provides, I want to r- -
pe.it it. i alone am responsible for
the bill. while i did my oolleagues
the courtesy to se.- if they had
say objections lo the *>iii. nlether of
them Iras present when tin- bill
passed, as both of them were sick
Respectfully,
t. it. Praser,
prosperity of every Individual in the
commmunlty from the boy on the
street who blacks your shoes to the
master mind who organizes your
railway systems or governs your
state ?the prosperity of every indi?
vidual, I say, depends upon the effi?
ciency of the average man.
The great principle of democracy to
which our American government is
dedicated, is not confined to the world
of politics, but applies with equal
force in the economic and industrial
world. We must revise not only our
old aristocratic ideas of government,
but our old aristocratic ideas of
wealth and industry as well. These
old fatal misconceptions have shack?
led us too long, and there is no hope
for us only in realizing that business
Is, by nature, not aristocratic, but
democratic.
The poorer every other man is, the
poorer you are. The richer every
other man is, the richer you are?
not the reverse of this, as too many
people have long beliveed.
Every man whose earning power is
below par, below normal, is a burden
on the community; he drags down
the whole level of life and every
other man in the community is poor?
er by reason of his presence, whether
he be white man or negro, or what
not. Your untrained, inefficient man
is not only a poverty-breeder for
h'mself but the contagion of it
curses every man In the community
who is guilty of leaving him untrain?
ed. The law of changeless Justice
decrees that you must rise or fall, de?
cline or prosper with your neighbor.
You will be richer for his wealth,
poorer for his poverty.
And so today every man who is
tilling an acre of land in the south so
that it produces only one half what
Intelligently directed labor would get
out of It, every man who is doing
poor work of any kind, every man
who Is creating and earning only 50
or 75 cents a day instead of from three
to ten times as much, as intelligent
labor would do, every efficient man
no ^matter in what line of work, is a
burden on the community is drag?
ging down the level of life for every
other man in the communlay.
Suppose you are his fellow citizen;
then because of his Inefficiency, his
poverty, because of his failure to con?
tribute to public Improvements, you
must have poorer roads, poorer
schools, a meaner school house and
courthouse, a shabbier church, lower
priced lands; your teacher will be
more poorly paid, your preacher's
salary will be smaller, your news?
paper will have a smaller circulation,
your town will be a poorer market,
your railroad will have smaller traffic
your merchant smaller trade, your
bank smaller deposits, your manu?
facturer diminished patronage, and
so on and on. The ramifications are
infinite, unending.
On the other hand, every efficient
man, every man trained to do good
work, whether by the schools or by
any other method, is making the
whole community richer. If by doing
better work he earns $2. $3 or $5 a
day instead of 30 or 50 cents?does
not that mean your merchant will
have more trade, your bank larger
deposits, your newspaper better pai
ronage, your preacher a larger salary,
your county and State better resourc?
es, so that your roads, schools and
school houses will all feel and aho?v
i the thrill of a new power that Sims
come to them.
Gevry man who conns into the
community with new talent or skill,
a German say, every man trained by
any method to greater efficiency and
dynamic Intelligence every such
man lifts the whole level or prosperity
for the community. So matter what
y<?u have to sell your muscular
labor, your skill, your scientific know?
ledge, your manufacturing product,
your land you c,, \ for it in propor?
tion to the efficiency and proaperlty*
of the nverage man with whom you
deal and the great masses in the com?
munity must be the intelligent and
effich nt i!" the general level of proa
prlty is tu be high,
'"rbf farmer, the common laborer
of any -tort, needa no training. Bdu
CatC him and you spoil him. The
poorer you keep him the richer will
be the upper classes." These hav?
been our great pet fallacies. And a
long time have they been preached. |
Hugging this vampire delusion, the
southern plantation owner has seen '
vast areas abandoned to broomsedge
and gullies, in spite of the fact that
intelligent handling would have kept
them productive for 1,000 years.
Preaching this fatal doctrine, the
merchant has sold western meat and
scooters and tobacco, when, with
prosperous patrons, he might have
quadrupled his profits by selling sulky
plows and harvesters and carriages
and pianos.
Deluded by this fallacy, the states?
man has struggled against fate, only
to die and be forgotten by people too
poorly educated to read his bio?
graphy, and too poor in property to
build a monument to his memory,
while smaller and meaner men In
sections unshackled by those ancient
errors, are famed In song and story.
Writing editorials In support of the
i aristocratic instead of the democratic
theory of industry, the editor has
sfen his patent-outside weekly fall of
support, when a properly trained and
educated people would have brought
him wealth and the head of a pros?
perous daily.
Fighting public taxation for better
schools and methods of training or
enriching the average man, your
manufacturer has struggled along
with a small business, when a pros?
perous average man would have
given us great industries like those in
the north and west.
Still aruging that education and
training would spoil the workingman
and that cheap labor is what we need
your banker has complained that the
South offers no opportunities for the
great financier, forgetting that cheap,
unprosperous labor menas small, un
prospcrous banks.
Your doctor, lawyer, preacher,
teacher?each falling In line with
the ancient heresy?has paid the pen
alty in diminished fees, diminished
salaries, diminished influence.
Victims of the vicious teaching I
am pointing out, our men of talent?
artists, sculptors, poets, orators.?have
too often fled to other sections or else
among a people untrained to appre
elate their genius?when but for
these things you might see statues
of southern leaders In all great
American cities the work of southern
artists in the world's greatest gal?
leries, the thought of the southern
poet the common heritage of man
kind. It is not that we have had no
mighty dreamers; it is that they sleep
In neglected graves, trampled under
foot by war and waste and error.
Now, war and waste, thank God,
are behind us. Let us also put error
behind us.
Of all our errors, our greatest has
been the failure to recognlize the fact
that the prosperity of every man de?
pends upon the prosperity (and there?
fore upon the Intelligence and effi?
ciency) of the average man?and In
many cases the actual acceptance of
the doctrine that the state is benefit?
ed by having cheap, unintelligent
labor. We now see, on the contrary,
that such labor Is a curse.
And our second great error has
been like unto it?the belief that
even if prosperity of every man does
depend upon the prosperity of the
average?we are too poor to train
him. The truth is that we are too
poor not to do so. The fullest and
freest training of the average is the
one and only positiv?? guarantee of
southern prosperity, and by this I
mean the prosperity not only of our
section and of our institutions and of
society as a whole, but the prosper?
ity of every Individual?every farmer,
every laborer, every merchant, every
manufacturer, every professional
man, every inhabitant?from the boy
who blacks your shoes to the master
mind that builds rairoad systems or
governs your state.
CASTOR IA
For Infants and Children,
The Kind You Haw Always bought
Bears the
Signature
Simply a Matter o! Taste
if you want eye glasses that will be?
come you. as well as prove beneficial)
come to us. You will And our prices
are no higher than elsewhere, yet
\\ e give y< u better service. Gradu?
ate Optician in charge of our opti?
cal parlors*
W. A. Thompson.
Jeweler and Optician.
Phone 333. - No. 6 S. Main St.
1
<;1
ALCOHOL 3PER?EN?
AVcg^abl^rVepar?1on6rAs
SuTiHat^fheFbod^Rrtfuia
(tog rJte Stomachs andBowekof
Infants /Childrkn
Promotes Di^iloi^CkoM
ness and RestXontalns otter
Opiuni.Morphine nor Mineral
Not Narcotic.
J^afOktlkSIMLWmm
AmptioSmd
JMeie Softs
AimeSeed*
I* Carton* S*la +
WvmSeed
CASTORIA
For Infants and Children.
The Kind You Have
Always Bought
Bears the
Signature
of
Aperfect Remedy forCorafla*
t ion, Sour Storach.Dt&rrtm
Worms Convulsions JPeverisfc
npss and Lo SS OF SLEEP.
FacSnnie Sigpawre of
NEW YORK.
Atb months old
J5 Doses-JJCents
Exact Copy of Wrapper.
In
Use
For Over
Thirty Years
CUSTOM
TNB OirtTAWB ?OIIP? NT. NC? TO lift CITT.
WANT A WINDOW?
sash or blind, a door or a dozen, or
a hundred of 'em? No better place
to get them for miles around than
right here. We have the goods at
saving prices and can deliver them
quickly and correctly. This is a de?
pot for such building materials. Wo
have a 'phone and we want your or?
ders.
The Sumter Door, Sash I Blind Factory,
J. W. McKeiver, - - Proprietor.
Birme's Drug Store,
5 W. Liberty St. Sumter, S. C.
-Dealer In
Pure Drugs and Medicines,
CHOICE PERFUMES AND FINE
TOILET ARTICLES, COMBS AND
BRUSHES, PATENT MEDICINES
AND DRUGGISTS' SUNDRIES, A
FULL LINE OF CIGARS AND
TOBACCO. :: :: :: :: ::
OUR MOTTO: PURE ?ND RELIABLE GOODS.
IN
Our stock is complete
and we cheerfully solicit
your patronage. :: :: ::
Banking.
(> Large, strong, sale and progresive. Wo offer unex?
celled banking facilities and want your business.
The Farmers' Bank and Trust Co.
Sumter, South Carolina.
No Man
Can place a limit on YOUR possi?
bilities, but a GROWING bank
account with a GROWING bank
will increase them.
We solicit your banking busi?
ness.
15/>e
Bank of Sumter.